Oman's ministry of finance Monday announced that eight telcos have been pre-qualified to bid for a 25% stake in state-owned operator Omantel.  

The Omani government said that the pre-qualified bidders include leading European and Asian operators, as well as regional players.

"The selected parties are being contacted and we now look forward to receiving the parties' first round proposals in the second half of September," Darwish Ismail Al Bulushi, secretary general of the ministry of finance, in a statement.

The bidders will submit technical and financial proposals in the first round of the contest.

"The quality and number of expressions of interest we have received were very strong," said Al Bulushi.

The ministry did not disclose the names of the pre-qualified bidders. However, a number of operators have already shown interest in acquiring the stake, including Etisalat and Saudi Telecom.

Meanwhile, Qatari incumbent Qtel, which has majority control of Oman's second mobile operator Nawras, has denied media reports that it is one of the bidders.

The telco said that as the majority shareholder of Nawras, it has to be mindful of Omani rules and regulations, according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires.

A number of other telecoms companies have been named as potential bidders though; earlier this year, one analyst suggested that Kuwait's Zain, South African mobile provider MTN, and Vodafone could also be in the running.

"The level of interest is testament to the quality of the Omani macro economic scene, the opportunity in the Omani telecoms market and of Omantel itself," said Al Bulushi

In 2007 Omantel reported a 60% share of the country's mobile market, with 1.49 million subscribers.

Furthermore, the incumbent currently enjoys monopoly control of the country's fixed-line market.

However, this is set to end, with bidding for the country's second nationwide fixed-line licence already set in motion by Oman's Telecoms Regulatory Authority.

The move to open up the country's fixed-line sector is aimed at boosting phone and broadband penetration, which stand at just 10% and 3% respectively.

Source:totaltele